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Woah, 10 years is a long wait, but have there been stories of system failures? Delays? Vandalism? Myki has attracted all 3 and more of these issues with it.

Melbourne has 1 private train operator (Metro), 1 private tram operator (Keolis Downer) and over 50 private bus operators. There a bus routes that range from having a bus every 15 minutes, to buses every 40 minutes. Routes that are long, short and in some cases repetitive of another route (411 and 412 are a perfect example, anyone living in Altona).

Our old system, Metcard (thankfully still in use), was a simple paper/cardboard based ticket that worked similarly to a flat-rate fee (for example, $3.70 gets you 2hour travel in Zone 2 on all trains, trams and buses running in that zone). Myki's initial release has buses and trams out of the loop because of problems with the mobile software, hence why it "makes a mockery of our multi-modal transport system".

I guess no government likes looking red-faced. In response to a story regarding hijacking of ships, there's a few ships that will be transporting some new X-Trapolis trains from Europe to Australia. I just want to see the look on the premier's face when one goes missing.

I'll say this about TransLink, from about 2003 until 2009 Translink was always about 6-12 months away from being rolled out on BART, (The second largest transit agency in the Bay Area, by Ridership) and the officials at BART simply ignored it, at one point, a couple years ago they even tried to roll out their own smart-card, which went over with the public as you might think. Though now BART does accept Translink with no major issues. With such a long rollout period, most of the glitches and delays have been taken care of, but with major expansion of the TransLink to the South Bay (Known as Silicon Valley to those outside the Bay Area) anything and everything could go wrong. And as for the third issue, Vandalism,we're so used to the Graffiti, and the worn down condition of buses and trains that we really don't care anymore. And for my last point, before TransLink, we didn't even have interagency transfers, or a combined fare system to ease people's travels. Here in the Bay Area, we've got a great variety of bus lines, just like any other city, but here in the Bay Area, many of them are so crowded you would think that they would be better off as rail lines.

I guess the opinion going through most of our minds is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Metcard was one of those systems that everyone "got", and had minimal flaws (bus ate my ticket on 2 seperate occasions xD). Public Transport Users Association has called myki unnecessary, and opposition leader has called it a "farce". It's sort of like trading in a trusty old Honda Civic for, say, a new Aston Martin (stupid analogy, i know). It might look pretty, and have all the toys, but what's the point if it's going to be impractical for everyday use?

I guess the opinion going through most of our minds is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Metcard was one of those systems that everyone "got", and had minimal flaws (bus ate my ticket on 2 seperate occasions xD). Public Transport Users Association has called myki unnecessary, and opposition leader has called it a "farce". It's sort of like trading in a trusty old Honda Civic for, say, a new Aston Martin (stupid analogy, i know). It might look pretty, and have all the toys, but what's the point if it's going to be impractical for everyday use?

Yeah, but in my case a closer term might be: "If it is broke, then fix it properly."

Britain warned Iceland that it would be frozen out of the European Union after its President abruptly vetoed the repayment of a £3.6 billion loan.
The Treasury expected Reykjavik to rubberstamp the terms of repayment for the loan extended by Britain and the Netherlands at the height of the financial crisis. The loan meant that 400,000 savers with deposits in Icesave did not lose their money.
President Ólafur Grimsson stunned the world’s financial community by refusing to sign the repayment schedule into law. Instead, he said that the matter would be decided in a referendum among Iceland’s 243,000 voters.

1. anyone knows if Iceland has a FDIC insurance for bank deposits?
2. were those banks private or government own banks?

I'm not sure about the first question, but the banks of which you are speaking, do you mean the ones in Iceland that were in trouble? Those were private, I believe, but when they went under, most - if not all - were nationalized.

I'm a bit surprised that the U.K. want the repayment terms signed into law, though. Debt owed by a country is usually guaranteed by that country's good faith only. Defaulting, while not a "good thing", is acceptable, esp. if the debt repayment harms the country in some way. Is this because it is a straight loan by the U.K. and the Neitherlands? If the current government in Iceland falls because it has signed this into law, why would the replacement government then allow it to continue?

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"If ignorance is bliss, then why aren't more people happy?" -- Misc.

Currently listening: Nadda
Currently reading: Procrastination for the win!
Currently playing: "Quest of D", "Border Break" and "Gundam Senjou no Kizuna".
Waiting for: "Shining Force Cross"!

A Japanese whaling ship rammed and damaged an anti-whaling vessel in a clash near Antartica. The Japanese claim that the anti-whalers got in the way, while the anti-whalers say they were drifting away when the Japanese vessel approached and slammed them.

A Japanese whaling ship rammed and damaged an anti-whaling vessel in a clash near Antartica. The Japanese claim that the anti-whalers got in the way, while the anti-whalers say they were drifting away when the Japanese vessel approached and slammed them.

2ch comments made me lol'd

Spoiler for :

“Their ship looks so stupid I couldn’t help but laugh.”

“Serves those pirates right.”

“People are still going to blame Japan for this.”

“Quite an expensive gag they pulled there.”

“Wasn’t this the high speed ship they were bragging about?”

“It looks like a rejected idea from Batman.”

“The other side is saying the Japanese ship rammed them – a little hard to believe.”

“A taste of divine retribution for those Australian racists.”

“Marine terrorists ought to be arrested and punished.”

“They probably planned this from the start, with a ship to pick them up if they got into trouble.”

“If you look carefully, they’ve got a skull and crossbones on their ship. Pirates.”

“Japan’ll probably apologise anyway.”

“Just a performance to elicit more donations from their sponsors.”

“Isn’t the objective of these idiots just to play at sailors whilst raking in more money?”

“The other side is saying the Japanese ship rammed them – a little hard to believe.”

“A taste of divine retribution for those Australian racists.”

“Marine terrorists ought to be arrested and punished.”

“They probably planned this from the start, with a ship to pick them up if they got into trouble.”

“If you look carefully, they’ve got a skull and crossbones on their ship. Pirates.”

“Japan’ll probably apologise anyway.”

“Just a performance to elicit more donations from their sponsors.”

“Isn’t the objective of these idiots just to play at sailors whilst raking in more money?”

I simply love the fact that both sides are made up of idiots. Just a perfect representation of any conflict in the world right now.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

A Japanese whaling ship rammed and damaged an anti-whaling vessel in a clash near Antartica. The Japanese claim that the anti-whalers got in the way, while the anti-whalers say they were drifting away when the Japanese vessel approached and slammed them.

It's not that easy to tell who's at fault there. The first video it looks like the Japanese ship turned into the batboat there. The video from the Japanese ship though looks like the ship was going to clear it, then the batboat moved back in front of it at the last second. Though those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. I'm going to say the captain of the Japanese ship was being an idiot and playing chicken, and the people on the batboat were idiots trying to get in front of the much bigger ship. In short both sides here were engaged in risky behavior. This is the result of that.

It's not that easy to tell who's at fault there. The first video it looks like the Japanese ship turned into the batboat there. The video from the Japanese ship though looks like the ship was going to clear it, then the batboat moved back in front of it at the last second. Though those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. I'm going to say the captain of the Japanese ship was being an idiot and playing chicken, and the people on the batboat were idiots trying to get in front of the much bigger ship. In short both sides here were engaged in risky behavior. This is the result of that.

I propose that the whaler arm itself with homemade torpedoes using discarded fan blades /w chassis, a large 320mm pipe, tipped with acetone peroxide warhead and powered by a car battery.

Pretty much to me it seems that both sides are like engaged in competitive bumper car driving in the videos, and I thought it was a game only played by kids who like to win even the smallest things.

From what I know, dolphin/whale hunting in Japan is regulated and limited in which the fish stocks are sustainable, but it pretty much seem to me that these enviromentalists are under-informed and overly passionate like their Jeemah Islamiah counterparts. Why are they not designated as extreme groups in Japan since they do all these sort of bullshit? Also, the whalers could have just radioed/called to the authorities (assuming they have phones onboard) and get the Japanese navy to bring them in if they are in Japanese waters. There is always the deck gun if these nuts try to ram the navy ships too.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

It's not that easy to tell who's at fault there. The first video it looks like the Japanese ship turned into the batboat there. The video from the Japanese ship though looks like the ship was going to clear it, then the batboat moved back in front of it at the last second. Though those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. I'm going to say the captain of the Japanese ship was being an idiot and playing chicken, and the people on the batboat were idiots trying to get in front of the much bigger ship. In short both sides here were engaged in risky behavior. This is the result of that.

From comments I've seen elsewhere, it appears the Japanese whaler couldn't afford to swerve away. This is because were they to do so, they would expose their propellers to the eco-activists; which is exactly what the latter want, since they were aiming to sabotage the whaler by dropping a rope into the propellers of the other ship.

From what I know, dolphin/whale hunting in Japan is regulated and limited in which the fish stocks are sustainable, but it pretty much seem to me that these enviromentalists are under-informed and overly passionate like their Jeemah Islamiah counterparts. Why are they not designated as extreme groups in Japan since they do all these sort of bullshit? Also, the whalers could have just radioed/called to the authorities (assuming they have phones onboard) and get the Japanese navy to bring them in if they are in Japanese waters. There is always the deck gun if these nuts try to ram the navy ships too.

Aren't they usually somewhere in the Antarctic Ocean? So FAR away from anything.

From what I know, dolphin/whale hunting in Japan is regulated and limited in which the fish stocks are sustainable, but it pretty much seem to me that these enviromentalists are under-informed and overly passionate like their Jeemah Islamiah counterparts. Why are they not designated as extreme groups in Japan since they do all these sort of bullshit? Also, the whalers could have just radioed/called to the authorities (assuming they have phones onboard) and get the Japanese navy to bring them in if they are in Japanese waters. There is always the deck gun if these nuts try to ram the navy ships too.

Not that I've precisely researched the subject, but from what I know, Japan's quotas (decided, of course, by their own government) are deemed too high by scientists and other countries who don't profit quite as much from whaling. Besides, they use "science" vessels to get around various international restrictions.

Not to condone sea shepherds or anything, but I understand their concerns.